Zombiestuck
by colorfullyMoonstruck
Summary: This wasn't how it was supposed to be. "What even the hell was that?" "Well, they looked like zombies, bro. Right out of the movies." "Zombies? Gamzee, this isn't one of your stupid horror flicks. Things like that just don't happen." "People are eating other people, aren't they? Seems pretty clear to me, bro." "Zombies or not, we have to find a way out of here."
1. Chapter 1 - Trapped

**([CM] Okay, guys. This is my first ever fanfiction, so go easy on me. I am attempting a Humanstuck/Zombiestuck, and I hope you guys like it. Reviews/comments are encouraged, and if enough people like it, I'll keep it going. Thanks for reading~!)**

This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

It had been all planned out. Gamzee was the one who'd organized the whole thing; the meet up location, the activities, the invitations. It was supposed to be a big get together. A reunion of old friends. Ever since high school ended, everyone had just gone their separate ways. They'd stayed in touch; texting, e-mailing, IM-ing. A party to get everyone reunited seemed like the best way to catch up and hang out like they'd used to.

Things were going great. Gamzee and Tavros had arrived at the pizza joint just minutes after the set time. And soon after that, the gang was back together again, laughing and slamming Faygos just like old times. It was a possibility things would have stayed that cheerful, had it not been for that one stranger who'd walked in. No one had noticed him at first. Not until he'd taken a chunk out of some poor woman's neck.

And now? Now they were locked up in the restaurant's men's room, trying to form some sort of plan that would allow them to escape without running into anymore rotting people. In their current position, they didn't know how bad things had gotten outside. For all they knew, the walking corpses could be right outside the door.

"What even the hell was that?" Karkat asked from his current spot, leaning against the door as if the lock wasn't enough protection.

"Well, they looked like zombies, bro," Gamzee replied, checking his monochromatic clown face paint in the mirror to make sure nothing had smeared in the rush for a hiding place. "Right out of the movies, you know?"

"Zombies? Gamzee, just how high are you right now? This isn't one of your stupid horror flicks. Things like that just don't happen."

Gamzee shrugged, turning his full attention to Karkat. "People are eating other people, aren't they? Seems pretty clear to me, bro."

"Zombies or not, we have to find a way out of here," Vriska spoke up, tossing her raven black hair over her shoulder before smoothing down the puffy hairstyle. "I suggest finding a weapon and charging out there to show those dead creeps who's boss."

"Uh, how about we not do that and say that we, um, did?" Tavros offered meekly, making an uncomfortable sound and moving closer to Gamzee when the girl glared at him in response. The taller male put an arm around his shoulder, as if to say it was okay, Tavros fidgeting a bit and looking up at him.

"Yeah, that'th not the betht idea," Sollux spoke, his lisp just as troublesome as ever even when he tried to tone it down. "Have you theen what happenth to people who charge into thomething like that? It'th not pretty."

"Those walkers will all up and devour you like some sort of delicious pie or something," Gamzee hummed thoughtfully, "It ain't worth the risk, sis."

"Well then what do you suppose we do? I wouldn't think _you_ have any ideas in that fried mushy object you call a brain." Vriska crossed her arms. Her temper was almost as bad as Karkat's, she just seemed to handle it better.

"For starters, perhaps we could use that window as a source of getting out," Kanaya charmed, motioning to a small window located towards the ceiling.

The muscular brute who had been standing in the corner glanced up at the window, releasing a slightly frustrated sigh. "Are you sure that all of us could manage through that?" He was the tallest in the group, and certainly the strongest, but he was also a tad thicker than anyone else. This was due to his finely-toned muscles.

"Equius, don't worry," the childlike girl beside him giggled, "You'll fit too." Nepeta always seemed to know what was going on inside her best friend's head, probably because she hung around him twenty-four/seven. At the moment, she was sitting at his feet, pawing curiously at a dead fly.

Seeing the small girl's actions, Equius grimaced slightly and picked her up into his arms, a tiny mewl escaping Nepeta. "It would be advised that you remain off of this, um…. disgusting excuse for a floor." His husky voice made just about anything he said seem serious, but he rarely ever 'horsed around' anyway. He wasn't one for foolish behavior, and looked down on it greatly.

"Aw, but Equius!" Nepeta whined, pouting before sticking her tongue out just to annoy him.

"He's right," the other girl sitting on the counter chimed in, "I mean, just look at this place."

Cobwebs laced almost every corner of the fairly large room, and a dead insect lay here and there. The walls had long since lost their color of what seemed to be pale yellow with red stripes, and one of the stalls didn't even have a door connected to it. The place was a dump, just going to show how long it had been since any health inspector had come through.

"I don't think it would be particularly healthy to be sitting on the floor." The girl swung her feet, smiling softly when Sollux came up and kissed her cheek.

"I don't think it would be healthy for anyone jutht to be in thith room," he added, "Which jutht goeth to thaying that we thtill need to get out of here ath quickly ath we can." He didn't want Aradia in this mess, and he didn't just mean the bathroom, taking her hand lightly.

"W-whale then, someone needs to go first," Eridan said. He knew well that whoever crawled out the window first would have the chance of running into another one of those creepy, decaying corpses. "Any takers? Kar?"

The short guy in front of the door immediately shot Eridan an evil look. "Ladies first, fish breath."

Eridan scoffed, "You're the leader here, Kar. W-why don't you grow-w a pair an-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Vriska interrupted, "Who the hell made him leader? I think I'm much more suited to be the leader here, not shorty."

"Hey, I'm not short, fu-!"

"Guy, guys, chill," Gamzee drawled, cutting off Karkat's attempt to curse Vriska out. "I'll go out first and make sure it's all safe and stuff, alright?"

Tavros clenched hold of his friend's sleeve, tugging at Gamzee's purple hoodie as he whimpered. "Gamzee…"

The Capricorn looked down at Tavros, chuckling lightly and ruffling the smaller's fluffy faux hawk. "I'll be okay, Tavbro. Ain't nothing gonna hurt me." With that, he carefully pried away Tavros' fingers and went over to the window. He was tall enough so he could reach it without a problem, pushing it open with next to no trouble. Heaving himself up, he wiggled and inched his way out head-first.

The clumsy man fell the rest of the way out of the window, a soft thud heard from outside when he landed. After a second of silence, Gamzee was heard again. "Aw, hell, man!"

Tavros perked. "Gamzee?"


	2. Chapter 2 - Leader

**([CM] Okay, so, wow. I didn't expect my first chapter to get so many good reviews. Honestly! Thank you guys so much for the compliments, I appreciate all of them! As long as you guys like it, and as long as I'm given the motivation, I'll certainly keep this thing going for you guys! If you have any ideas, I'd actually love to hear them. Who knows, I might incorporate one of them into the story! Thanks for reading!)**

"Oh my," Feferi said quietly, afraid the worst had happened. It was bad enough that the dead were walking around, and she was shivering in fright, but she didn't want to think that one of her friends had gotten hurt too.

"I'm going to guess Gamzee was caught by one of the creatures you guys keep going on about," Terezi guessed, glancing at the group behind her red shades. She might have been blind, but she had a killer sense of smell and taste, which made sure she wasn't the most defenseless out of everyone. And her hearing wasn't bad either.

The statement seemed to set off a kind of alarm within Tavros as he ran up to the window. "Gamzee?!" he panicked.

"I'm fine, Tavbro," the man called back, "Come on out."

Tavros blinked, relieved nothing bad had happened as he hopped up to grab the window sill, only to be yanked back by his shirt collar. The Taurus gasped softly as he looked up to see Vriska.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she spat, glaring down at him from behind her shades. "Haven't you ever heard of 'ladies first'?" She shoved him to the side, ignoring as he stumbled a bit. She grabbed the edge of the window and heaved herself up, kicking her legs slightly as if it would help. It didn't take long before she disappeared outside as well.

The faux-hawked boy looked around at everyone else. "Uh… L-ladies first?" He motioned to the window with a small, dorky grin.

"It's okay, Tavros," Nepeta mewed, "Go on out with your boyfriend. I'm sure Equius could lift you up."

At the mention of Gamzee being his boyfriend, Tavros could feel the heat rise to his face. Sure, they were in a relationship, and had been for a few months now, but it still made him all flustered. However, he didn't deny anything and tried to remove his blush as Equius lifted him to the window and he crawled through. As he fell out the other side, he swore he would have hit the ground had it not have been for Gamzee being right there to catch him. The older male gave him his usual goofy grin.

One by one, everyone was helped out and lowered back onto the safety of the ground outside, Equius squeezing out last.

"Alright," Terezi hummed, "Now what do we do?"

"Maybe go look for anyone who isn't already dead?" Feferi suggested, twirling her hair around her fingers. That was a nervous habit she'd always had. "I want to make sure my sister is okay."

"Knowing her, she's probably just fine," Karkat assured, "Though my dumbass brother is most likely either barricaded back at home or he's already one of those…. things."

"Zombies," Gamzee corrected, "The walking dead, walkers, corpses, the living dead, infected-"

"Alright, I got it. You're a horror movie enthusiast. Can we move on now?"

Gamzee shrugged.

"W-why don't w-we start by findin' some w-weapons?" Eridan offered. He could use a decent gun by now, since he usually had one on him anyway. He hadn't bothered to bring it with him this time; he hadn't exactly been expecting for people to be chewing off each other's faces.

"Well, in the movies, they always go to find some sort of shelter to hide out in. Some place with a lot of supplies." Gamzee scratched the back of his head, looking out at the empty field before them. They could chance to go around the side of the restaurant and go down the streets to look for a gas station or grocery store, but he'd seen enough movies to know they'd most likely run into a lot more walkers if they did that.

Zombies usually infected a whole town, right? So they'd be walking all up and down the streets by now.

"Then come on! There's a little store a few blocks away!" Nepeta started towards the edge of the building to go around. "I'll lead!"

Gamzee grabbed her under the arms and lifted her up quickly. "Hold on there, little sis." He placed the girl back down beside Equius. "If we go back into town, we'll most likely be all up and caught by the infected."

"Then what do you suppose we do?" Vriska crossed her arms. "Are we supposed to just walk away and find another town? Without and weapons, food, or supplies?"

"Actually," Gamzee grinned, "Yeah." He pointed out to the field. "We go that way, and keep going till we find something."

"Gamzee, are you crazy? You don't know what's out there. There could be a hell of a lot more of those things out there waiting for us!" Karkat argued. In all reality, he wanted to be able to go to the store Nep had mentioned. It was probably a heck of a lot closer than walking god knows how long to the next town.

After a few more minutes of arguing between Gamzee, Karkat, and Vriska, the clown-faced horror movie know-it-all finally was able to convince them that heading to the next town was best. They set out on their search for _living _civilization, only a few of the others actually complaining about it. The rest of them just followed along, either keeping their comments to themselves or only following the leader- er… leader_s_. The power of command seemed to be separated between Kar, Gamz, and Vris.

They'd only been walking for half an hour or so before more whiny complains started spilling out of the crew.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Vriska said loudly, as if it would help get her point across. "It's hot, and I'm starting to get sweaty. I don't sweat. It's icky and nasty and- Are you guys even listening to me?!"

"Yes, yes. We understand, princess. But sadly, your royal carriage isn't here to carry you around." Karkat shot her a warning glare to shut up, and it was equally returned.

"This mud is gettin' all ovver my new-w shoes!"

Both Karkat and Vriska turned to give Eridan their glares, the young man stumbling to a halt in surprise. He continued following with a soft grumble as they turned away. Feferi put a hand on his shoulder and attempted to console him.

"I do suggest we find a place to stop and rest soon," Kanaya commented, "It seems as though our party is getting a tad restless due to our continuous movement, and it would be highly suggested that we take a break to relax. Otherwise, we may end up in a downward spiral of negative comments that could possibly end up in the snapping of one of our dear leaders."

She was right. And by the looks of the sun, it was getting late. Karkat checked his watch. 7:49. Geez, maybe they'd been walking for more than just half an hour. He looked at Gamzee, expecting some form of zombie-wisdom to come tumbling out of his grey painted mouth about not stopping or to indeed stop and rest a while. Nothing. The tall man just glanced down at his shorter friend and gave a lazy smile.

Sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose a bit, he dark eyed boy turned and halted the small crowd of friends. "Alright. We'll stop and take a few minutes to get back our energy, but after that, we have to keep moving. God knows how close those undead freaks are." He muttered the last bit, not that anyone was paying that much attention.

Settling down, eventually everyone found themselves a comfortable spot in the middle of the empty field. Nepeta kept whispering small complaints about being out in the open. She'd much rather of started a trek through a forest. At least then she could climb a tree or two or find some squirrels to terrify. She was cuddled up next to Equius, who had a protective arm around her shoulders as he listened to her whining. Not that he minded too much.

Kanaya had found a portion of the ground that wasn't too icky and dirty and had sat down, inspecting her skirt for tears and her heels for dirt.

Feferi was leaning against Eridan, slightly tired from walking as he comforted her the best he could, telling her she should get some shut eye before they started to move again.

Terezi was with Aradia and Sollux, cackling softly as she made horrible jokes to try and lighten up the air. Aradia found no interest in them, but seemed to be listening anyway, while Sollux was messing around on his phone. He was most likely checking video game forums as he usually did when he was on his phone. Or he was texting his brother to make sure he was okay.

Tavros was off to the side, hugging his knees to his chest as he stared at his brown sandals. Those certainly weren't the type of shoes for running, so he prayed he wouldn't have to run. He'd been rushed enough back at the pizzeria when they'd been searching for a hiding place, he didn't want to trip if they had to run from a horde of zombies.

Gamzee, Karkat, and Vriska took the position of look out. They really only needed one person to keep watch, but Kar and Vris had butted heads again, and Gamzee just insisted since he was one of the tallest and he knew the most about the creatures. Height wouldn't have mattered, had Gamzee not have mentioned that he could see farthest because of it.

So they'd made posts on three sides of the group. Tavros kind of just wished everyone would get along.

It was only ten minutes in, when Vriska and Karkat started at it once more. This had gotten the attention of Tavros, Gamzee, and Sollux. The others didn't seem to care. What were they fighting about now?

"You weren't ever elected leader." Vriska jabbed her finger at Karkat's chest, her free hand on her hip. "You have no right to take over."

Karkat rolled his eyes. "I have just as much right as anyone else. And what rule is there that states I can't be leader?"

"The rule that says, 'You have to be this tall to command.'" She raised her hand to the top of her head and smirked down at him. His face was beginning to burn with contained rage.

"Oh, so you're playing the height card again? Is that all you have to throw out onto the playing field?" His hands balled into fists as he glowered at the taller girl. He may have been short for his age, but that didn't mean he couldn't rule with just as much of an iron fist as she could.

"You got a lot of rage for someone so small," Vriska sneered, flicking the top of his forehead as if he were a bug on her food.

Karkat's lid burst as his face was flooded with a blood red color. "I'm gonna rip your head off and shove it so far up your a-!"

"Uh, g-guys?" Tavros fumbled slightly as he started frantically crawling backwards, eventually finding his footing and scuttling behind Gamzee.

Everyone looked up at once, except Aradia, who seemed to be in a small trance.

Nepeta's eyes widened and she squealed, suddenly being scooped up by Equius when he stood.

Feferi had been partially asleep, but was now wide away as she got to her feet, pulling Eridan up as well with a soft whine. "No…"

Sollux put away his phone, pulling on Terezi's arm. The girl understood and got up quickly, using her cane to help her. Sollux then turned and tried to get Aradia up, but she seemed almost as if she was asleep with her eyes half way open. He shook her, getting no response.

Kanaya realized the danger as well, standing as quickly as her high heels would allow her. "Oh my…"

Vriska took a few steps back, eyes wide behind her sunglasses. "Shit!"

"Everybody _RUN_!" Karkat took off one direction, a few following him, while some others ran the opposite way in the panic to get away. No one was paying attention to who was going what way, all of them just scattering like little mice.

Zombies had emerged from seemingly thin air, the group not having been paying attention until Tav had said something. Now the walkers were dangerously close and closing in fast. The gang would have stood and faced them had they either had weapons or the group of infected had been smaller. But neither were true.

And Sollux was still frantically shaking Aradia to try and get her to come to from wherever her brain had taken her to. "Aradia! Aradia!"

Gamzee stopped and glanced back at them, causing Tavros to stop as well. "Come on, bro!" he called.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Sollux was almost in tears. He couldn't leave Aradia like this. He couldn't leave her ever. She was his soul mate, his other half, his one and only-

"Sollux!" Karkat screamed.

Blood sprayed across the ground. Blood. So much…. blood.


	3. Chapter 3 - Separated

**([CM] I'm so sorry for taking forever to put up this chapter! I haven't been able to use the computer in forever and it took me a while to figure out how to transfer the written version on my phone to the computer so I could put it up. I hope you guys aren't too mad! Hopefully I'll be able to put up new chapters faster now that I can write them on my phone. Thanks for staying with me, I hope you enjoy!)**

"Oh god, oh god, oh god!"

Gamzee laid a heavy hand on the other's shoulder, giving a reassuring yet lazy grin. "Hey, it's alright, bro," he hummed, "I'm sorry we all up and lost a sis, but don't let it bring a brother down too much."

Sollux sniffed, cradling his head in his hands as he clenched his hair. "Alright," he choked out, biting his tongue.

The group had gotten separated after the run in with the zombies. After running a mile or two, the rest of their current group got tired and decided to attempt to set up camp. That's where they were now: sitting out in the open field without a sense of direction, their only light source coming from a newly build fire since the sun had disappeared by now.

They didn't know where anyone else was, and they hadn't attempted to contact Karkat and the others in case they were still running. So for now, it was just the five of them.

Tavros was attempting to get some rest, laying on Gamzee's jacket near the fire. Gamzee was trying to console a crying Sollux a few feet away. Vriska was keeping watch, and Eridan was worrying about whether or not his hair had kept its shape during their escape.

After making sure Sollux was okay, Gamzee made his way back to Tavros, sitting down beside the boy. He smiled when Tav looked at him. "You okay, Tavbro?"

The smaller boy nodded in reply. "I think so. Is, uh, Sollux alright?"

"Yeah, he's just getting his motherfucking cry on. A brother's just gotta all up and release some tension every now and then, you know?"

Tavros nodded, cuddling into the jacket a bit. "We're, uh, all gonna be okay, right?"

The man gave some thought to the question before nodding. "Yep. There ain't nothing to worry about."

It took a moment before Tavros spoke up again. "Hey, Gamzee?"

"Yeah?"

"Um, does anybody ever get out alive? In your movies, I mean."

Gamzee stared down at the innocence in the younger boy's face. How was he supposed to respond to that? "Well, I guess they do sometimes. Shit, it just depends on the motherfucking movie."

"Are we going to make it out alive?"

He blinked, a bit surprised by the question. His heart ached a bit at the thought that they wouldn't, so he did the one thing he could think of. He gathered up Tavros in his arms and hugged him tightly. "Of course. We'll all be motherfucking okay in the end. I promise."

Even if they'd already lost one person, he was going to try and make sure no one else got killed. But he knew what went on in all those zombie horror flicks. There would be death. Nothing could stop that.

Everyone seemed to stay in their own little areas after that, the only sound being the soft crackle of the fire and Eridan's murmured curses about why he shouldn't be here.

Tavros had fallen asleep in Gamzee's arms, the Capricorn not minding. Tav needed it. Gamz was surprised that Tavros had made it through this much, the poor boy usually almost fainting just when watching a horror movie.

Things were peaceful. Until Vriska managed to start up another arguement with Sollux somehow. She was really good at knowing how to get on someone's nerves. Gamzee rolled his eyes and attempted to ignore them, until they started screaming at each other.

"Hey!" The man glared at them. He usually didn't take on such a serious demeanor, but when he did, he meant business. "Enough already. Don't you remember what happened last time someone started that shit?"

The two stared at him, glowering at each other before moving off in two separate directions. At least that was taken care of.

Gamzee huffed, wishing he had a cigarette with him. He had been trying to stop smoking for Tavros, the little Taurus always getting upset when the man so much as picked up a pack of them. But it was hard. At least he'd gotten better at it, only using one or two a day instead of almost a whole pack. But he still needed them. Helped him with his stress and helped calm him down when he got angry.

The boy shifted in his arms, but thankfully didn't wake. Well, he didn't wake until Vriska's scream set of as some sort of alarm that caused the whole group to jump to attention.

A walker had come up behind her and was now proceeding to take a chunk from her shoulder. When Tav awoke to such a gruesome scene, he nearly toppled over backwards into the fire, but Gamzee grabbed him before he could.

Eridan was already flooding the scene, escaping into the night. Sollux chased after him, shouting for him to stop being such a selfish asshole and come back to help.

Gamzee had picked up a thick, flaming stick from the fire before bashing in the corpse's head, Vriska squealing as she escaped its deadly grasp. Gamz hit it again just in case. That was one rule when dealing with the living dead: always double tap.

At this point, Vriska was hiding behind Tavros, the boy frozen in his place as he watched the dead zombie, expecting it to get right back up.

"Toreadumbass, do something!" Vriska cried, using the nickname she called him when they talked online. One lens on her sunglasses had broken when the zombie had grabbed her face before biting her shoulder, her bright blue eye visible as she whimpered and looked around.

She screamed again, and Tavros cried out in horror as he felt her nails rake down his back before she fell away. He turned to look, eyes widening as he saw her being dragged away by another undead freak. Oh no, she was going to die! What to do, what to do?!

The Taurus yelped as she caught his foot and dragged him down with her, Tavros whining loudly as he started to hyperventilate. "G-Gamzee!"

On queue, the man jumped in, the flaming stick no longer in his grasp as he hooked his arms under Tav's armpits and pulled him back. Vriska screamed curses at Gamzee and Tav, telling them to save her and not let her die, crying through her pain as more walkers chomped down onto her legs and lower back.

Finally, Gamzee yanked Tavros away, the boy losing a shoe in the process as the Capricorn picked him up and ran as fast as he could in the direction Sollux and Eridan had gone. Vriska's screams of pain and curses followed after them, until it died down and stopped entirely, leaving the empty field silent once more.


	4. Chapter 4 - Refuge

**([CM] I'm having a hard time choosing which pairings I should incorporate into the story. Leave your favorite pairing(s) in the reviews and I might go with your suggestion!)**

Sollux grabbed hold of the hipster's shoulder, yanking back hard as they both came to a stop. The Gemini wheezed heavily. He wasn't used to so much physical activity, as he was usually locked up in his room playing video games with Karkat.

"Thlow down, athhat!" Sollux gasped, planting his hands on his knees as he desperately sucked in much needed air.

Eridan was panting heavily too, though not quite as much as the other. Ignoring the insult, he squinted his eyes at a bright light in the distance. "Sol, look. Is that a fuckin' gas station?"

Sollux glanced up, peering at the darkness and finding that one lone light that didn't seem too far off. "I think it ith," he managed between gasps. He glanced back at the sound of footsteps, glad to see it was only Gamzee and Tavros.

"W-where's Vvris?" Eridan looked at the two curiously.

"She's all up and gone, bro," Gamzee explained, "The motherfuckers ate her."

Tavros quivered in his arms.

"W-whale good riddance. I nevver really liked her anyw-way." Eridan crossed his arms, before motioning towards the distant light. "W-we think it's a gas station."

"Could be good for finding thome thupplieth." Sollux straightened himself, having gotten most of his breath back. "If we're lucky enough to not run into anymore undead creeps, that ith."

Gamzee nodded approvingly. "Sounds good to me. Tavbro?" He looked at the trembling boy.

Tav looked at Gamzee, slowly nodding his head.

"Then it's agreed." The man pushed past the other two and lead the way to the gas station.

"If it's safe enough, can w-we stay there for tonight?" Eridan whined, him and Sol following their new leader.

"If it's safe," Gamzee confirmed with another head nod.

A small bell rang as they entered the dimly lit gas station, the small troop piling inside. The door swung shut behind them and closed silently. No zombies. All was peaceful. Gamzee was about to relax and put Tavros down when he froze as the sound of a gun cocking. The four looked to where the sound came from, finding a man with a shotgun behind the counter.

Smoke swirled out from the cigarette held in his mouth, trigger finger ready. He slowly lowered the gun and revealed his features. He wore a biker jacket and a white tank top underneath, hair slicked back with too much hair gel and a jagged scar above his right eyebrow.

Eridan's frozen look of fear melted away. "Cro?" The rest of the team slowly relaxed.

"Hey, what's up, little brother?" The man grinned and set the gun down on the counter. He looked down at his side and lightly nudged something with his foot. "It's okay. It's just my brother and his goons."

A shaggy haired boy slowly rose from behind the counter, grumbling small insults at the other for making him hide during a false alarm. His hair hung down and completely covered his eyes, his shirt striped with black and yellow like a bee.

Sollux took on an expression of surprise. "Mituna?"

The boy curiously looked his way, a wide grin spreading his lips as he waved. "Hi Tholluth! I wath hiding!"

Sollux let his palm collide with his forehead. Mituna was as clueless as ever. But at least he was safe.

Gamzee grinned lazily at the two behind the counter, setting Tavros down, though the boy didn't move from his side. "Nice to see a couple of brothers made it out alive."

Cronus nodded, taking a drag from his cigarette that was now between his fingers. "'A course we made it. I know how to deal with a couple a rottin' freaks." His New Yorker accent was heavy as he spoke, and it was clear that living in the south hadn't affected him in the past few years. "Tuna here was just so lucky I went by to check on 'im. That's when the creepers hit."

Mituna was now sitting cross-legged on the counter, eating a candy bar he'd found earlier. He wasn't paying much attention to anyone else until Sollux came over to him to make sure he wasn't hurt. The boy on the counter, however, refused to let his brother touch him anywhere.

A quick discussion passed between Gamzee and Cronus, and it was decided him and Mituna would join the group. But for now, they were all going to settle down for some well-deserved rest.

All except for Cronus. He insisted on keeping watch. No one argued with him, seeing he was the only one with a weapon.

Mituna and Sollux claimed the spot behind the counter, Cronus lending them his jacket to use as a pillow or blanket. Cronus himself sat on the counter, keeping watch through the windows with his gun at the ready.

Eridan was by himself. He'd decided the best place to sleep was near the back where the freezers for drinks were. According to him, that spot was the safest because it was the farthest away from the doors and windows.

Gamzee and Tavros were sitting in one of the aisles that had chips and Faygo. Gamzee said the Faygo reminded him of miracles for some reason.

"It's probably because of all the different colors," he explained, "Like a motherfuckin' rainbow, you know?"

Tav, who was cuddled against Gamzee's side, nodded. "I, uh, like the orange one. It looks nice."

"Yeah, it sure does," the taller male agreed, eyeing the different colors. "But the grape one tastes the best."

It didn't take long for Gamzee to figure out Tavros had fallen asleep. He smiled warmly at the boy, before frowning. They'd forgotten his jacket back at the temporary camp they'd set up. He wasn't worried about the jacket itself, it wasn't important. But think of all the uses it could have been good for. Oh well. No use pouting about it now.

He shifted, careful not to wake Tav, and took out a cigarette he'd had in his pocket. He'd taken a pack from the counter, not that anyone but Tavros complained. He lit the drug stick, placing it between his lips as he put away his lighter. Breathing out slowly, he watched the smoke curl and flicker in front of him. He closed his eyes and leaned against the shelves behind him.

Where were the others? How many more were dead? Would they ever get to see each other again?

So many thoughts drifted through his mind as he felt sleep grasp him and pull him into its dark embrace. They'd be alright. He was sure of it.


End file.
